Mental Floss

WAR

The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that shaped our modern world. Erik Sass is covering the events of the war exactly 100 years after they happened. This is the 129th installment in the series.

Erik Sass

The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that shaped our modern world. Erik Sass is covering the events of the war exactly 100 years after they happened. This is the 128th installment in the series.

Erik Sass


wikimedia commons

Days after Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, the wheels of fate had already been set in motion by a handful of powerful men meeting behind closed doors in Vienna.

Erik Sass






New York Tribune via the Library of Congress

Two years after the sinking of the Titanic the world was gripped by news of yet another horrific maritime disaster—but developments behind the scenes foreshadowed something even worse.

Erik Sass












Thinkstock

If you have a secret to keep, a good place to do so is in a safe inside another safe in the control room of a nuclear-class submarine far below the surface of the ocean.

Hannah Keyser




Humboldt.edu

The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that killed millions and set the continent of Europe on the path to further calamity two decades later.

Erik Sass
Getty Images

The Oxford English Dictionary is honoring the centenary with an appeal to the public for help in finding the earliest documented uses of words that first came into English during World War I.

Arika Okrent